CELEBRATIONS all round in Hepworth thanks to a major competition win by its brass band.
Hepworth Band made an immediate return to the British Open Championships by winning the Grand Shield title at the Spring Festival.
This is the second time in the band’s history that it has won the Grand Shield. The latest win came at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool.
The band, directed by Russell Gray, delivered a scintillating performance of Peter Graham’s set work, On the Shoulders of Giants to give them one of the most clear cut victories seen at the contest for many years.
“A super performance full of drama and detail – so musically shaped,” said adjudicator Dr Robert Childs, while fellow judge, Malcolm Brownbill said: “A very strong, very well presented performance. So musical and authoritative as required.”
The band celebrated its qualification for the British Open with the players taking it in turn to raise the famous trophy high into the air on the Winter Garden’s stage to the rousing strains of Pratty Flowers.
Russell Gray congratulated the whole Hepworth organisation for a great team effort.
“The players have put in a great deal of hard work and the organisation has been first rate,” he said.
“All I had to do was put on the final layer of contest polish.”
With that win under its belt, the band faces a busy few months with the spring and summer contest season.
Its musicians are preparing for the Saddleworth Whit Friday Marches on June 1 and the English National Championships at Preston Guild Hall at the end of next month.
